First Amendment Defense Act
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The First Amendment Defense Act (often abbreviated FADA) (H.R. 2802) was a bill introduced into the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate on June 17, 2015. The Senate sponsor of the bill was Mike Lee (R-Utah), and the House sponsor was Raúl Labrador (R-Idaho).[1] The bill aimed to prevent the federal government from taking action against a person on the basis that such person believes or acts in accordance with a religious belief or moral conviction that: (1) marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, or (2) sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.[2]
The bill provided that the federal government "shall not take any discriminatory action against a person, wholly or partially on the basis that such person believes or acts in accordance with a religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, or that sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage."[1]
Timeline
The FADA was introduced into both the House and Senate on the same day (June 17, 2015), by Mike Lee and Raul Labrador. As of November 21, 2016, the House version had 172 cosponsors (but it had not been considered by either of the two committees to which it had been referred[1]) and the Senate version had 34 cosponsors.[1]
Mike Lee reintroduced FADA to the Senate on March 8, 2018, with 21 Republican cosponsors.[3]
Support
When asked by Heritage Action, FRC Action, and the American Principles Project if they would pass the bill in their first 100 days in office, three of the top four Republican presidential candidates in the 2016 election said they would. [4] Donald Trump would later come out in support of the bill. [5] It was also supported by the Family Research Council, the American Family Association, and the Liberty Counsel, among other groups, shortly after it was introduced.[6]